


(but I’ll kneel down) Wait For Now

by Caelum_Blue



Series: Caelum's Canonverse [12]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Ba Sing Se, Earth Kingdom (Avatar), Family, Family Issues, Fighting, Gen, Politics, Pre-Series, Yelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27533989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caelum_Blue/pseuds/Caelum_Blue
Summary: Set 15 years pre-series.It's been five years since Long Feng took over and restructured the Dai Li. Sixteen-year-old Kun Dai actually likes their new mandate. His old guard Dai Li mother does not. It can get awkward.Right now, hiding up on the roof, listening to his mom shout at one of her former work friends, it's more than a little awkward.
Series: Caelum's Canonverse [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/817911
Comments: 29
Kudos: 14





	(but I’ll kneel down) Wait For Now

**Author's Note:**

> So this is writing that actually HAS seen the light of day before! It was prompted by Apollonianism a few years back, and I posted it on the...gilded-green tumblr, I think. Since I'm trying to clear out some WIPs, I went ahead and polished it up and now it's getting posted here too.
> 
> Thanks to Apollonianism for suggesting it and Stingrae for the beta work!

Kun went home early from the university that day instead of staying late to study, because one, studying was boring, and two, he really wasn’t in the mood to watch Sunan and Wenli flirt like dorks over ancient poetry instead of doing the proper thing and making out in the library’s farthest corner like  _ normal _ people. Going home would probably be no less awkward, the way things were between him and his parents right now, but at least home would give him options beyond studying for classes he didn’t care for or groaning at his brother and probable-future-sister-in-law.

When he saw the familiar carriage parked outside his family’s front gate, however, Kun paused. Only for a moment - then he turned and headed down the side alley, made sure his book bag was secure on his shoulders, and clambered up to the roof as quickly and quietly as he could. He took another moment to glance down into his family’s front courtyard, found it empty, and considered his options. Back garden or formal receiving hall?

Formal receiving hall. Something told him this wasn’t a friendly social visit.

Also the raised voices coming from that part of the house were a dead giveaway. Kun sighed and carefully made his way to the receiving hall’s roof, and he carefully settled down beside a stone badgermole to listen to the two women below. 

“Roulan, you cannot possibly be blaming  _ me _ for this - ”

“Oh, of course I don’t blame you  _ personally _ \- ”

“And yet you still seem to be blaming me, Roulan!”

“I have  _ seen _ your recruitment tactics,  _ Director Touba. _ It’s one thing for you to reel in uneducated Lower Ring recruits with promises of glory and a better life - but it is  _ quite _ another when you use those tactics on  _ my son.” _

“Watch your tone,  _ Director Li. _ I was one of those uneducated Lower Ring recruits.”

“Until the Dai Li sponsored your education! Just as we sponsored Long Feng’s. And look how the two of you have repaid us!”

“By making the Dai Li the most powerful, farthest-reaching organization in the city?”

“That Serpents gang would disagree, I think. You’ve been chasing after them for, what, four years now? And those boys you’ve been recruiting - you’re not even bothering sending them to university! Half of them can’t even read!”

“They’re learning. And illiteracy doesn’t stop them from being capable agents.”

“Oh, certainly, if you define being a  _ capable agent _ as being an earthbender and nothing else! The Dai Li gave you an education - you won’t even pass that on to others!”

“With the way things are now our new agents do not  _ need _ an academic education - that’s why we’re  _ getting _ so many Lower Ring recruits now! We’ve made the Dai Li more accessible, and in return we have a larger pool of earthbending talent to pull from - why can’t you see this is a  _ good _ thing?”

“My son is from two old Dai Li families, he’s meant to have a proper education and to uphold Avatar Kyoshi’s decree, not go chasing down Lower Ring gangsters!”

“It is  _ not _ my fault that your son has no interest in archaeology!”

“And when did  _ you _ stop having an interest in archaeology, Feiyan? I did  _ not _ challenge Long Feng to single combat so that my son could just go - go - gallivanting around the Lower Ring throwing rocks at criminals!”

“And  _ I _ didn’t give up my chance to be Head of the Dai Li so that the organization could stay locked in the Upper Ring refusing to give a damn about the rest of the city! Your husband is half Nanyuese - your  _ wife _ was a refugee! Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me the Dai Li haven’t been making a difference for people in the Lower Ring, Roulan?”

There was a long moment of silence. “The Dai Li are meant to protect and preserve Ba Sing Se’s cultural heritage. Not do the City Guard’s job.”

“Well  _ someone _ has to do the City Guard’s job, and the City Guard have made it perfectly clear that they can’t be trusted to do it themselves. Half of them are corrupt and the other half are ineffectual.”

“And you think I want Kun down there dealing with that? The Lower Ring is a war zone!”

“I think the refugees who live there would beg to differ.”

“One of your trainees was  _ killed _ last month, Feiyan!”

Silence.

“A trainee!  _ Killed! _ Dai Li trainees are not supposed to be killed on the job!”

There was a scrambling noise on the tile behind him, and Kun jerked around in time to see his twelve-year-old cousin hauling herself up onto the roof. “Hoang, be  _ quiet!” _ he hissed, even as he reached down for her hand and pulled her up beside him.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

Kun’s mother and Director Touba, however, were apparently too busy arguing to hear them. Kun wished he could tease them about it - situational unawareness was unbecoming of Dai Li agents. But now wasn’t the time. Kun wasn’t sure  _ when _ would be a good time to tease his mother again.

“You are letting children  _ die - ” _

“He was an adult, Roulan, he was  _ nineteen _ \- ”

“Is that really supposed to make me feel better?!”

“It was an  _ accident, _ it’s not like we sent him to die on purpose - ”

“And I’m just supposed to hope my  _ son _ never has an  _ accident?” _

“How long has Director Touba been here?” Kun asked Hoang quietly.

“About half an hour,” she said, frowning down towards the edge of the roof.

“Have they been arguing the whole time?”

Hoang shrugged. “It started quieter. The arguing didn’t really heat up until ten minutes ago.”

Kun sighed.

“What’re you gonna do?” Hoang asked.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m...I’m not changing my mind. I don’t  _ care _ about history, Hoang, I don’t want to...write theses and guard museums and dust off pottery. I know our cultural heritage is important, but...I want action. Excitement. Earthbending. I can’t sit still and study poetry.”

“I know,” she smirked.

He nudged her shoulder with a rueful grin. “And the city’s a mess, and someone has to clean it up. I’ve heard your mom talking about the conditions in the Lower Ring.”

Hoang bit her lip. “Yeah.”

“And what Long Feng’s doing with the Dai Li now - things are getting  _ better, _ aren’t they?”

Hoang bit her lip a moment longer. “A little, yeah,” she said quietly. “Taking out the gangs has helped. And cracking down on the City Guard. But...everything’s so complicated, and there’s still so much…”

“Right,” Kun nodded. “But the new way Long Feng’s handling the Dai Li...it would let me help, and it’d be the kind of job I  _ want, _ and I’d  _ still _ be carrying on the family tradition of being in the Dai Li. So yeah, I’m not changing my mind. I just...don’t know what to do about Mom right now.” Dad was taking it a little better - not  _ well, _ but  _ better. _ But then, Dad was actively helping Long Feng set up the administrative side of the Dai Li’s new mandate. Mom wasn’t too pleased about _that,_ either.

Hoang leaned against him. “Y’know, Zan didn’t talk to me for a week when I finally told her I didn’t wanna be Dai Li, but...she accepted it. Eventually.”

Kun snorted as the voices below rose dangerously close to full-on shouting. “Yeah...I think Mom’s gonna need more time than Zan did.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments are always appreciated! <3
> 
> Kun is 16, Hoang's 12, and somewhere southward Sokka and Suki are newborns if anyone's counting. :P
> 
> We got another glimpse here at something that Stingrae and I intend to explore in full in the future - in my headcanon, the Dai Li were very different before Long Feng took over, and his ascent to power caused a massive shift in the organization's power, responsibilities, and even employee demographics. That's not to say that the Dai Li were _good guys_ before Long Feng, I mean, they were still secret police who served the upper class, but...it was different.
> 
> The title comes from I Will Wait by Mumford & Sons, which is...actually a pretty good song for the Dai family during this time period.
> 
> I really love Roulan's selfish classist hypocrisy here. Anyone who's read Bright and Bitter, Pure and Sweet has seen her better side, but no one's perfect and it was fun to explore that.
> 
> Something that may not be obvious to us, because it's not obvious to Kun, because Hoang is very, very careful: She actually does have reservations about the Dai Li and what they're doing.
> 
> The character tags on this one are kinda empty, which is a given since there's, like, zero canon characters in here, lol. I'm wondering if it'd be useful to tag my OCs by name. I have a lot of them, and I know a lot of you guys are able to recognize them, so it might make sense? Idk. It'd be more for you guys than me, so let me know if it'd be helpful to be able to look at my fics like "Oh sweet, Shirong AND Min Lee are in this one??" before you click on it or something.


End file.
